He sighed and sighed.
‘No. A little longer. We’ll talk a little before we go. We must talk.’
He laughed—a normal teasing laugh.
‘A little conversation,’ he said. ‘You’re a tiger for conversation, aren’t you?’
‘I don’t mind your laughing at me.’
They were going to laugh gaily at each other, with each other, for ever.
He put his hand beneath her chin and turned her face up to his.
‘Lovely Judy. Lovely dark eyes.... Oh, your mouth. I’ve wanted to kiss it for years.’
‘Oh, Roddy, you can kiss it whenever you want to. I love you to kiss me. All of me belongs to you.’
He muttered a brief ‘Oh!’ beneath his breath, and seized her, clasped her wildly. She could neither move nor breathe; her long hair broke from its last pins and fell down her back, and he lifted her up and carried her beneath the unstirring willow-trees.